"I'm not going home. Not really."

I just finished watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I haven't watched it for quite a while (well, more recently than the others, I suppose. But it feels like forever) and the whole time I was giggling at how young everyone looks. Kayla and I kept cracking AVPM jokes (ie. when Quirrel came on..."and Jane Austen novels!" etc etc) and just generally giggling the whole movie.

It wasn't until the end of the movie, when Harry says, "I'm not going home. Not really." that I realized something, though. I realized that Harry Potter - the movies especially, I think - has been made so much more to me by the fandom. Without the fandom, I'm not sure I'd be as crazy about it as I am. Sure, I'd still be obsessed. Obviously. But not as much. I wouldn't eat, live and breath Potter, I don't think. When Harry said those words, I really felt them on a different level than I had. Maybe it's because Leaky Con is so close, but it feels like I am about to go home. I am about to go and meet some of my favourite people in this entire universe IRL for the first time. It just hit me so hard that I had to just sit on my couch and stare at the tv for a while after the credits started rolling. The fandom is my home. I've been thinking for years that Hogwarts is, that if I could find a Hogwarts I could really be home. But I think I've realized that I have that in the fandom. I mean, I've really found my niche in theatre, but the Harry Potter fandom is still my home.